


In the Ai's of a Mother

by ButterfliesAndPenguins



Category: Free!
Genre: Gen, Kinda, Nitori suddenly makes sense in the context of his mother, Nitori's crazy mom, Rin vs Nitori's mom, Rin's self-help anger management book, more like friendship than anything, nitorin - Freeform, poor tiny angel child, rintori - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-26 19:53:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5018182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ButterfliesAndPenguins/pseuds/ButterfliesAndPenguins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin suddenly understands Nitori better when his mother invades their dorm before a swim meet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Ai's of a Mother

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize so hard for another horrific pun title I am the worst at titles.  
> I actually wrote this over a year and a half ago and I haven't posted it because I couldn't think of a title, forgive me. 
> 
> Takes place right around the end of Free! season 1. Rin vs Nitori's even clingier and crazier mom. :)

_BANG._

Rin cringed, not from the deafening door slam, but from the word he swore echoed before it was shouted, the word that had been permanently etched into his auditory cortex over the last six months.

_"Senpai!!"_

Rin took a cleansing breath and desperately recited a mantra in his mind from a self-help anger book Gou had given him.  
  
_Clarity first, response second. Clarity first..._  
  
"Senpai! Are you ready for the swim meet?"  
  
_I am in control of my choices… I am—_  
  
"I'm nervous," Nitori continued, "it's my first time competing with breast stroke and it still feels new, and—"  
  
"Then you should have asked your coaches for more advice on managing your performance anxiety, Aiichirou. That's what they're there for, to help you!"  
  
Rin's eyes widened at the brand new, yet eerily familiar female voice.  
  
"I _do_ ask them," Nitori grumbled. "They said I should watch my other teammates and get advice from them, or—"  
  
"See? That's why I told you to make lots of friends, you need someone who's there for you . . ."  
  
Blood began pounding in Rin's ears for reasons he didn't yet comprehend. Clarity… first...  
  
"Rin-senpai!" Nitori flashed an enormous grin as Rin pivoted slowly in his chair to face them, white-knuckling indents into the seat cushion.  
  
"Introduce us," the older woman nudged him abrasively from behind, wearing a nervous smile Rin knew all too well.  
  
"I _am_ ," Nitori whispered with a frown that evaporated instantly when he blinked back at Rin. "Rin-senpai, this is my mother. She wanted to say hello before the—"  
  
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Matsuoka." The woman sidestepped her son and bowed eagerly, raising her head with a bright smile and almost manic blue eyes.  
  
Rin stuttered a strange clicking sound three times before he realized his jaw was locked hanging open. He shot abruptly to his feet and heard the chair smash into the desk behind him. He had to blink rapidly several times before he remembered how to speak.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. . . Nitori." He swallowed back a shudder at the realization—there were not one, but _two_ Nitoris in his room.

"I've heard _so_ much about you, Matsuoka! Aiichirou says you're the most mature and complex member of the swim team, and that you're extremely responsible, despite that delinquent appearance." She smiled forgivingly at his shrugged-on hoodie and unkempt bangs.

"Huh?!"

"Mom—"

Rin swore he saw actual blush on Nitori's cheeks.

Nitori's mother was inching forward and Rin slunk back, matching her step for step.

"I've heard you're not the most talented Samezuka member, but that you're definitely the most driven!"  
  
"A—?"

" _Mom_!"

"Of course, determination is more important than talent, though! That's what I keep telling Ai, but he says—"

"Yeah," Rin lurched, desperate not to hear what else Nitori had said. "He's been doing really well lately, especially in the 200 meter."

"Ah, of course! I know, and to think he didn't want to try swimming the first time I suggested he start." She beamed triumphantly.

Shocked into silence at how aggressively this woman refused to let anyone else finish a sentence, he noticed a strangely sad look flit across Nitori's eyes.

"Matsuoka," she had sprung up beside him at near teleportation speed, "you really are as handsome a young man as I've heard. And your hair is quite lovely." Rin flinched as she ran her fingers appreciatively through the ends, holding back the urge to slap them away.

_Clarity first, he panted, I am not my feelings, I am their ambassador. I—_

"Though," she continued mercilessly, "Wouldn't you be a faster swimmer if you kept it shorter?"

"Excuse me?"

"That's what swim caps are for," Nitori piped defensively.

"But doesn't it make lumps in the cap with all those bangs? I'm sure you could trim some crucial fractions of seconds off your times at your level with a shorter style, right? I thought that was why Aiichirou shaves his—"

"Ah—he grew it out like that in Australia!" Nitori blurted rapidly with a sideways glance at Rin. "That's how students wear it there. It . . . helps remind him of his—time there, right, senpai? My mom's so old-fashioned," Nitori rubbed the back of his neck with an apologetic smile to Rin, "like the way she still makes me get my hair cut—"

"I know! Let's get a picture of your two before the meet!" His mother whipped out a rather intimidating camera and strung it around her neck like she was arming for battle. "Get close, you two! Aiichirou, you just ate lunch, make sure there's nothing in your teeth."

Nitori jumped at the command. "Senpai, would you stand next to me for a photo?"

"Uh—sure." Rin crowded down to the boy's height and threw up two fingers half-heartedly.

They had to reposition themselves around the room at least half a dozen times before their photographer was satisfied with the lighting and angle of the shot. Rin was beginning to forget what “clarity first” even felt like by the fifth photo attempt, when Nitori squeaked, "Wait," scurried to his mother with his phone and said quietly, "one more." He had out his biggest smile for the last photo.

"Oh dear, looks like the flash caused a little red-eye in some of these." Nitori's mother poked at the chiming buttons on her camera screen. "Especially you, Matsuoka . . ."

"I'm sure Ai looks fine, though," Rin said hurriedly, eager to avoid another session. "That tends to happen in most of my photos, so we can't do any better. Must be the lighting," he added with sudden confidence in his photography knowledge.

"At least I'll have a keepsake to look back on you now," she cooed, reviewing the images with premature nostalgia. "I hardly ever see you anymore, sweetie." She hung on her son's shoulder in a way that gave Rin deja vu. "First your father leaves, and now you . . ."

Nitori flinched visibly and wriggled away. Rin hunched his shoulders, pretending awkwardly that he hadn't heard.

"I live in a dorm now, it's natural that I don't come home much."

It was hard to tell who Nitori was trying to convince more—his mother, or himself.

"But it's lonely without you, Ai." She continued, voice wavering in a pout. "Yuki and Chiyoko miss you, too."

Rin raised an eyebrow. "You didn't tell me you had siblings."

"The cats," Nitori mumbled through a taught grimace.

Rin decided it was time to check his watch dramatically (which was definitely just a leather bracelet) and announced, "Well, it's time to get ready for the meet. We'd better get changed into our uniforms and head over." He gestured obviously with his chin, shooting Nitori a look.

Nitori blinked. "But senpai, I'm already in my uniform."

"Our _swimming_ uniforms," Rin said pointedly through his teeth. "The _other_ Samezuka ones we _have_ to wear for _meets_?"

"Oh!" Nitori exclaimed too loudly. "Yes! Yes, we do. Of course, Rin-senpai! Okay, mom. I need you to go on ahead and get a good seat while we get ready."

"It's okay, dear, I can stay a bit longer, they won't fill up for a while."

"Please, mom!" Nitori straightened in an attempt to appear taller. "We're going to get set up. You go on ahead."

"I'll wait out here while you grab your things! I can walk you over to the pool."

"Mrs. Nitori," Rin cleared his throat loudly.

"Yes, Matsuoka?" She inched toward him eagerly.

"Ai's being polite for my sake," he lied stiffly, racing to lay down tracks for his train of thought. "I have to . . . study . . . this book on my strokes before I swim. Or I'll get nervous and lose focus." He tensed, hoping she was as gullible as her son.

She placed a reassuring hand on his folded arms.           

"Matsuoka, that's nothing to be ashamed of! I'd be happy to help you two," she beamed. "I can quiz you while—"

"I _absolutely_ have to study alone." Rin coughed. "Ai is the only one who can help."

"Are you sure, dear? I know a lot about swimming from watching all of Aiichirou's practices before he came here, I know I could—"

"Positive." Rin didn't think he could fix his stare with any more warning signals than he was already boring into her.

"All right, Matsuoka," she squeezed his wrist, her eyes watering with admiration, Rin's from refusing to blink. "Good luck."

"We'll see you after the competition," Nitori said in a voice pitched high with false bravado.

Nitori's mother backed out of the room, nodding encouragingly at Rin and giving him a large thumbs-up. Crossing the floor hastily, Nitori practically tried to stuff her out the door, but was unsuccessful until after an uncomfortably long whispered conversation and a strange pinky kiss ritual that Rin wished he could un-see. Finally the door clicked shut and Nitori's sigh reached him from across the room.

"Good thinking, Rin-senpai!" Nitori was at his side with uncanny speed, keeping his excited voice low. "That was a great story, needing to study your strokes..."

"Shut up," Rin warned, alarmingly close to exceeding his insanity tolerance.

Nitori nodded mutely, still smiling.

"At least we'll have some peace before the competition."

"Mm-hmm. And— just so you know, I don't really have performance anxiety. Not as bad as she says, anyway. I just get nervous, that's all. One time at a meet I was too excited and inhaled before an upstroke and almost drowned when I tried to keep going, and she hasn't let me forget it. That was fourth grade, though."

Rin kneaded his eyebrows painfully, not wanting to know the rest of that story.

"She thinks I can't do anything myself." Nitori glared at the door and sunk onto Rin's bed, curling his knees up to his chest.

"Ai—" Rin took a seat next to him. "You know you don't need everyone else to tell you what to do all the time. You have good ideas on your own."

"Like what?" He smiled sadly after Rin's uncertain silence.

They sat quietly for several minutes. Shuddering, Rin tried not to remember Nitori's mother's horrifying lack of personal space or complete invasion of emotional privacy.

"Maybe you'll find out now that you're away from her at school long enough to think of some. I dunno."           

The silver-haired boy shrugged, remaining unusually quiet.

Rin chewed his lip, hesitating to bring up the subject Nitori had obviously avoided around him before. "I guess now I know why I've never seen your dad at meets, huh?"

Nitori was wordless for another long moment. "Mom's just thought I needed looking after ever since he left. I think we're both better off without him, though," he turned away, blinking firmly.

Rin felt he suddenly understood why this clingy boy had stuck to _him_ in particular. He wondered how different his life would be if he’d spent it _grateful_ his dad was gone. He made a mental note to go a little easier on the guy from now on.

"That must be hard, though," Rin couldn't quite clear his throat all the way. "For both of you."

Nitori shook his head and gazed tearfully at Rin. "Not as hard as it must have been for you! My dad's still alive, I can't imagine having someone close die when you were so young."

"Hey, I don't think—" Rin shifted uncomfortably, feeling unusually guilty. "At least I didn't have a crap dad around just long enough to mess everything up. I mean, that sucks."

Nitori hugged his knees to his chin, bangs fluttering lightly. "Do you think I really am messed up?" He picked at a stray thread on the blanket.

 _Crap_ , Rin thought, _now I've done it._

A dozen methods of backpedaling cycled through his mind, but catching a glimpse of “Rage Off! Freeing Yourself From Anger’s Jaws” on his shelf set him off with a laugh.

Nitori flinched and looked mortified, but Rin waved a hand dismissively. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm pretty messed up myself. You really shouldn't look up to me so much."

"Don't say that, Rin-senpai!" Nitori reached for his foot pleadingly and Rin shimmied away in discomfort. "You're great at everything, and you have so many friends, even at other schools!"

Rin's scoff burst out more like a laugh than he intended. "Those Iwatobi losers? They're _way_ messed up."

"They didn't seem that strange when I met them," he blinked, clearly reconsidering his opinion of them.

"No, yeah. You have no idea." Rin raked his fingers through his bangs. "Nagisa acts all cute, but he's really this insane little monster. That weird Rei kid actually just wants to be 'beautiful'. Makoto's worse than my _mom_ , and Haru's always blabbing about how he communes with the water and just wants to 'feel' it . . . "

Nitori's eyes were getting wider than Rin had guessed was possible. "But I— I thought you liked being with them. You act like they're your friends, so I thought . . ."

"Hey, they _are_ my friends. It doesn't mean they're not crazy," Rin laughed.

Nitori scrunched his eyebrows tightly in thought. "I guess . . . maybe we're _all_ kind of messed up?"

"Yeah. Pretty much." Rin shoved his arm lightly. "Maybe even your mom a little."

For a moment Rin worried he had overstepped family boundaries of respect, but Nitori turned such desperate, watery eyes to him that Rin accidentally checked the corners of his vision for falling sakura petals like in a splash page in some shoujo manga.

Nitori blinked solemnly and whispered with grave sincerity, " _You have no idea_."

When Rin was able to stop laughing he clapped him on the back. "Two weird parents and you've still managed to compete in a powerhouse swimming school and not kill your neurotic roommate? I'd say you're doing pretty okay."

Nitori let down his knees and folded his hands seriously onto his lap. "Well, you are a little bit of a clean freak," he admitted, trying to hide a smile.

"Hell, yeah," Rin nodded at his immaculate bookshelf, trying not twitch at Nitori's pile of dirty laundry spilling from the closet, underwear plainly visible.

"And you do like to look tough and serious all the time so that it makes you seem cool. You could stand to have a little fun once in awhile."

"Me?" Rin frowned.

"And you're kind of dramatic about a lot of really specific things . . ." Nitori squinted with a finger to his chin.

"Hey, don't get carried away."

"And you always use only four squares of toilet paper, but replace your toothbrush every six days. What's that all abou—?"

"Hey, look! It's time to go get changed." Rin grabbed Nitori by the shoulders, propelling him off the bed to protests of _senpai_ and _what about your jacket_?

"C'mon, Nitori," Rin yanked his gym bag and called from the doorway. “You've got a race to win.”

He snapped to attention. "Coming, Rin-senpai!"

"Don't forget your underwear again."

"Oh! Right, of course! Thank you, senpai!"

Rin rolled his eyes as they left for the swimming locker rooms and made it just in time for Captain Mikoshiba's vague yet extremely enthusiastic pep-talk.

Rin's butterfly was early in the meet, so while tucking the last of his bangs under his swim cap, he elbowed an anxious Nitori in the shoulder and said, "Hey. Kick ass out there. You've earned it."

He straightened nobly, gripping his goggles for confidence. "Y— you too, Rin-senpai!"           

Rin took first in his heat, but hadn't beat his previous time in the event. He made a mental note to up his practice on secondary strokes, unable to help feeling a little nostalgic about competing in butterfly again.

Without stopping to change, Rin snatched up a towel and took a seat next to the captain while Nitori stepped onto the block. Rin swore the little guy looked taller next to these competitors than he had in the last meet.

Afraid to break his concentration, Rin held in his shouting until the second the whistle blew, but caught a feminine shriek of " _Go, Aiichirou_!" from across the bleachers.

Rin went hoarse from yelling by the third lap and somehow had the captain in a headlock for the last stretch. It was quite a crowded finish, but when the board lit up Nitori's time as second, Rin nearly strangled his captain.

"That's a best! That's a personal best! Look at him wobble, swam so hard he can't even get out of the pool, ha! YES!"

"Indeed, Matsuoka," Mikoshiba struggled awkwardly, probably stunned at meeting his match in enthusiasm. "He— ha— he has improved."

"Damn right," Rin grinned, unsure how he would be able to sit still through the remaining heats for his other teammates.

"Nitori!" He shouted down at the shaking boy whose head snapped upward to search for him. "Best time!!" he hollered, unable to think of anything brilliant to say. Even Nitori's wet hair practically stood on end with excitement as he tottered out to change.

From across the pool Rin caught a glimpse of Nitori's mother looking back at him from the bleachers with a hand to heart. With a grin of triumph, Rin guessed something had finally gotten through to her until he saw her raise the camera to her face and snap an unbidden photo of him.

Rin kept the towel over his head for the rest of the meet.           

When the last heat was over he pushed his way through the chattering crowd of students and families, eager to congratulate his roommate.

A small, but surprisingly forceful hand on Rin's shoulder make him jolt. He began counting slowly again and turned, eyes wide with dread, to find before him the physical embodiment of his nightmares: Nitori's mother.

She squinted up at him, eyes brimming with emotion.           

"Matsuoka, I just wanted to thank you for looking out for my son. He's come so far this year, and I know he really appreciates everything you've done for him."

"Mrs. Nitori—I don't look out for Ai. He does that for himself, I'm just his friend. You should probably try trusting him for a change."

Rin turned his shoulder against her and she caught it gently—weakly this time. Rin scowled back at her.

"I know you're right," she whispered, unable to meet his eyes. "He deserves a strong mother who's not so afraid. He deserves better. But he's a good boy with a big heart . . . who doesn't quite know how to use it properly." She smiled sadly. "Heaven knows, I'm sure you've noticed."

"Just—allow me this one gratitude," she finally met his eyes and Rin noticed himself facing her against his will. She took a deep breath, exactly like Nitori before he confessed anything. "You're the first friend he's had who's ever really listened to him."

Rin's stomach lurched like a sudden bus stop, both from shock and guilt. This time it was he who failed to match her gaze.

"Most people don't extend that courtesy," she said with a tinge of personal bitterness. "So thank you, Matsuoka Rin."

Rooted to the damp cement, Rin couldn't have been more grateful when Captain Mikoshiba clubbed him heartily on the back.

"Locker room, Matsuoka! The team is all assembling for pizza, let's hustle!"

"Come on, Rin-senpai!"

Nitori was waving his swim cap from the locker room entrance.

"Oh, that sounds fun, Aiichirou! I'll come with you boys!" Nitori's mother clutched her purse and straightened her camera, stepping toward him.

"Huh?" Mikoshiba raised an eyebrow, glancing indignantly between the woman and their teammate.

A wicked grin climbed the side of Rin's teeth. "Ai, get over here! Mrs. Nitori, this is Mikoshiba Seijuurou, the Samezuka swim captain!"

"Of course, I've heard so much about you! I'm Aiichirou's mother, pleased to meet you!"

Mikoshiba's expression went from predator to prey in 0.3 seconds.

She continued shaking his hand enthusiastically. "My, you're even taller than he described! And so strong, it's no wonder you're Samezuka's best competitor."

"Well," he stuttered abruptly, "thank you, ma'am, I—"

"You must have to manage a lot with this many boys, and the drama of some, no doubt, but my Ai says you're excellent at interpersonal leadership skills, as well as, well, the more impersonal skills, but such is competitive sports, I'm sure!"

"Come on," Rin locked an arm around Nitori's shoulders and steered him away. "Let's get on that bus before Mikoshiba wets himself.”

Nitori sputtered a laugh into his hands, still glowing with excitement from his victory. He snatched up his bag, glancing cautiously over his shoulder, and whispered with a grin, "Don't worry, Rin-senpai, I'm sure he'll be fine if he just uses all those great _interpersonal leadership skills_!"

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm infinite-bagel on tumblr.


End file.
